The Victory Theater, designed by architect A. O. Clarke in 1927, opened as the first motion picture theater in Northwest Arkansas on Monday, December 5, 1927.

The opening night crowd filled the capacity 750 seat Theater. Those gathered enjoyed "The American Beauty", along with music by Johnny Harrison and His Orchestra from Joplin. The eleven-piece orchestra played in the Theater' orchestra pit located below the stage. As stated in the Rogers Democrat December 8, 1927, "Every town in Northwest Arkansas was represented Monday night in the big audience a splendid testimonial in itself to the popularity of the victory management." The people of Northwest Arkansas on their way to the Theater viewed the modest building facade; highlighted by a Victorian detailed marquee bordered with white lights and a vertical art deco styled sign, which simply read Victory bordered by lights.

At the Theater's inception, Charley Marshall and John Cooper sought to enrich the relatively new town of Rogers, Arkansas (established as a railroad town in the 1880's) with a Theater which would bring entertainment and news to people from many miles away. They invested seventy-five thousand dollars and with the vision of A. O. Clarke, established a showplace not only for entertainment, but more importantly a place that people would be drawn to for decades. There is inherent difficulty in trying to make a 'place'. But with Rogers being relatively new as a town, the Theater essentially acted as a common fairground but on a newly formed urban, downtown built fabric.